Great leaders don't figure it out alone.
Leadership coaching for nonprofit and government executives who are tired of carrying everything themselves. AI-enhanced. Personality-informed. And with you between sessions, not just during them.
No long-term commitment required to start.
30
Years of consulting
35+
Countries served
90%
Repeat and referral rate
100s
Leaders coached and trained
The Honest Truth
Here's something nobody says out loud in the nonprofit and government world:
The pressure on executive leaders is extraordinary. You carry the mission, manage the board, develop the staff, satisfy the funders, and somehow still find time to actually lead. And because you care deeply about the work, you often carry it alone.
Most coaching addresses about 40% of that.
A 60-minute session once a month doesn't reach the Tuesday afternoon when your deputy director just walked out, the board chair wants answers you don't have, and you have to deliver the keynote in four hours.
That's where we work differently.
Three things most coaches don't offer together.
Sessions built around real challenges
Not a framework you fit yourself into. Real work on real problems, informed by 30 years of watching nonprofit and civic leaders succeed and fail.
Micro-coaching between sessions
Text, email, short calls when it counts. Real-time guidance that keeps you from making a decision you'll regret for six months.
Personality-informed insights
An AI-powered tool grounded in the Five Factor Model that maps how you communicate, relate, and lead—and gives you precise strategies for every important relationship.
Personality intelligence, built into every session.
We use the Personos app as a cornerstone of every coaching engagement. Personos is built on the Five Factor Model, one of the most validated frameworks in behavioral science. It's not a personality label. It's a working map of how you lead.
Your Custom Coaching Report
A dynamic report built around your personality, covering leadership style, change readiness, influence strategies, and communication patterns. Generated before we ever meet.
Relationship Intelligence
Add board members, funders, or key stakeholders to get personality-based strategies for navigating high-stakes conversations. The exact language and approach most likely to land.
The ActionBoard
A shared dashboard that tracks your commitments and milestones between sessions, so progress doesn't evaporate the moment you close your laptop.
It Learns Over Time
The more context you add, the more precise the guidance becomes. Your Personos profile grows more valuable across the full length of your coaching engagement.
Support that shows up when it matters.
Every package includes micro-coaching between sessions. That means real-time support for real-time challenges—not "feel free to email me."
A quick text before a difficult conversation. An email when you're stuck on a decision. A 15-minute call when something unexpected happens, and you need to think it through with someone who knows the full context.
It keeps your development moving in the moments between formal sessions—which is where most of the real work actually happens.
Find the right fit for where you are.
All packages include Personos app access, micro-coaching between sessions, and a personality assessment to start. Sessions are via Zoom.
Clarity Session
One session. One challenge. Real momentum.
Sometimes you don't need a long-term commitment. You need 90 minutes with someone who's helped hundreds of leaders navigate exactly what you're facing. The Clarity Session is a single, deep-dive conversation focused on one pressing challenge: a leadership transition, a difficult stakeholder relationship, a board dynamic that isn't working, a decision you've been circling for weeks. You'll come in with the challenge. You'll leave with a clear path forward.
What's included:
- Pre-session Personos personality assessment
- 90-minute session (video or in-person)
- Custom Personos coaching snapshot based on your profile
- Written action summary delivered within 48 hours
Foundation
Six sessions. Three months. A real shift in how you lead.
Foundation is for leaders who know something needs to change but aren't sure exactly what, or how. Over three months, we work through your challenges using your Personos profile as a map and your real work as the material. This is where patterns become visible. Where the habits that got you here start getting examined. And where you build a different kind of leadership confidence—the kind that doesn't depend on having all the answers.
What's included:
- Full Personos coaching assessment and dynamic personal report
- 6 sessions, 75 minutes each, biweekly
- Micro-coaching between sessions via text and email
- Personos ActionBoard with shared milestone tracking
- Mid-engagement and closing reflection sessions
Momentum
Twelve sessions. Six months. Lasting change.
Momentum is for leaders who are serious about development and ready to do real work. Over six months, we go deeper: your leadership identity, your relationships, your organization's culture, and your long-term vision for impact. Twelve sessions gives us time to surface the harder things. To work through setbacks, not just successes. And to build the self-awareness and relationship intelligence that compound over a career.
What's included:
- Full Personos suite: personal, relationship, and group reports
- 12 sessions, 75 minutes each, biweekly
- Priority micro-coaching between sessions (faster response commitment)
- Personos ActionBoard with shared milestone tracking
- Quarterly leadership reflection exercises
- Access to Common Ground's AI tool resources for nonprofits
Transformation
Eighteen sessions. Nine months. A different leader on the other side.
Transformation is the full engagement. Nine months with a partner who knows your organization, your leadership style, your stakeholders, and your history. This is where real transformation happens—the kind that changes how you show up every day, not just in the big moments. At this level, we work not just on leadership development but on strategic positioning, board relationships, executive presence, and where you want to take your career and your organization over the next five years.
What's included:
- Full Personos suite: personal, relationship, group, and coaching reports
- 18 sessions, 90 minutes each, biweekly
- Unlimited micro-coaching between sessions
- Monthly 30-minute strategic check-in calls, separate from sessions
- Board and stakeholder relationship mapping through Personos
- Quarterly 360-style leadership reflection process
- Access to all Common Ground AI resources and frameworks
Many Transformation clients choose to continue as Strategic Implementation Partners when their engagement ends.
Built for mission-driven leaders.
Executive Directors and CEOs
Leading nonprofits through growth, transition, or organizational complexity.
Government Agency Leaders
Senior career officials managing mission-driven work inside bureaucratic systems.
Emerging Executives
Deputy directors and senior leaders stepping into greater responsibility for the first time.
Experienced Leaders at Inflection Points
Leaders who've built successful organizations and are asking what's next—for them personally and for the work.
A word about my approach.
I've spent 30 years working alongside nonprofit and government leaders in 35 countries. I've seen brilliant executives derailed by relationships they never learned to navigate. I've watched organizations with magnificent missions fail because the leader at the top had no one honest enough to tell them the hard thing.
I'm not a therapist. I'm not going to help you process your childhood. I'm a strategic thinker, a straight talker, and a genuine partner in your leadership development.
What I've learned—from Albany to Albania—is that the leaders who grow the most are the ones who get honest feedback, stay curious about themselves, and keep their sense of humor when things get hard. (Things always get hard.)
AI changes what's possible in coaching. Personos gives me better insight into how you're wired. The technology amplifies what I can offer. It never replaces the human part.
That's still me. And I'm still paying attention.
— Craig Bowman, President, Common Ground Consulting
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to stop carrying it all alone?
A 30-minute discovery call costs nothing except 30 minutes. We'll talk about where you are, what you're navigating, and whether coaching together makes sense. No pitch. No pressure.